RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Botetourt County >> Eagle Rock >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Eagle Rock, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Eagle Rock and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Eagle Rock:
    • 37.640686, -79.801156
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Eagle Rock
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Botetourt County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Botetourt County
    • Since Eagle Rock is near Alleghany County and also Rockbridge County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alleghany County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rockbridge County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Eagle Rock

Communities Also Named Eagle Rock ...

We found five communities that are also named Eagle Rock.

Within Virginia, the name Eagle Rock is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Los Angeles County
      • This Eagle Rock is located in Los Angeles County and lies 2,147 miles [3,455.3 km]<1> to the west of the Eagle Rock that is located in Botetourt County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Los Angeles County community of Eagle Rock.
    • Idaho
      • Bonneville County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Idaho community of Eagle Rock [Bonneville County].
    • Missouri
      • Barry County
      • This Eagle Rock is located in Barry County and lies 771 miles [1,240.8 km]<1> to the west of the Eagle Rock that is located in Botetourt County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barry County community of Eagle Rock.
    • North Carolina
      • Wake County
      • This Eagle Rock is located in Wake County and lies 149 miles [239.8 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Eagle Rock that is located in Botetourt County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wake County community of Eagle Rock.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Venango County
      • This Eagle Rock is located in Venango County and lies 263 miles [423.3 km]<1> to the north of the Eagle Rock that is located in Botetourt County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Venango County community of Eagle Rock.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Eagle Rock ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Daggers Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Daggers Springs is located in Botetourt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daggers Springs
  • Flatwoods
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Flatwoods is located in Botetourt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwoods
  • Gala
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Gala is located in Botetourt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gala
  • Greyledge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Greyledge is located in Botetourt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greyledge
  • Hooks Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hooks Mill is located in Alleghany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooks Mill
  • Kyles Mills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Kyles Mills is located in Botetourt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kyles Mills
  • Rich Patch
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Rich Patch is located in Alleghany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rich Patch
  • Salisbury
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Salisbury is located in Botetourt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salisbury
  • Salt Petre Cave
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Salt Petre Cave is located in Botetourt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salt Petre Cave
    • Salt Petre Cave has also been known as:
    • Salt Peter Cave
    • Saltpetre
  • Springwood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Springwood is located in Botetourt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springwood

How Far From Eagle Rock to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Eagle Rock to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Eagle Rock and extending to:

  • Fincastle, which is the Seat of Botetourt County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Eagle Rock to Fincastle, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 129 miles [207.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 173 miles [278.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,069 miles [9,767.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,775 miles [10,903.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,652 miles [7,486.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Eagle Rock) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Eagle Rock could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Eagle Rock to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Eagle Rock. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6407, Longitude: -79.8012       In this case, the coordinates for Eagle Rock have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.58 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.173 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.321 degrees.